Erdogan threatens to restart Syria operation

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday warned that Ankara would restart its operation against Kurdish forces in Syria on Tuesday evening if they do not withdraw from a “safe zone”.

After US Vice President Mike Pence came to Ankara for talks with Erdogan on Thursday, the NATO allies agreed Turkey would suspend its offensive for five days in northern Syria while Kurdish fighters withdraw from the area.

“If the promises are kept until Tuesday evening, the safe zone issue will be resolved. If it fails, the operation... will start the minute 120 hours are over,” Erdogan told reporters during a briefing in Istanbul.

He said Turkish armed forces would remain in the region “because the security there requires this”, adding that there had been no issues so far.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday deadly Turkish air strikes shattered an hours-old US-brokered deal to stop Ankara´s military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. The ceasefire announced late Thursday was meant to provide a pause for the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain and other areas Turkey wants to control along its border with Syria.”Five civilians were killed in Turkish air strikes on the village of Bab al-Kheir, east of Ras al-Ain,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.

Another report says Turkey has promised the United States that its “safe zone” agreed in northern Syria will be short-term and also not result in mass displacement, a senior US official said Thursday.

“The Turks have reassured us many times that they have no intention — no intention whatsoever, from President Erdogan personally on down today — of staying in Syria very long,” James Jeffrey, the US special representative on Syria, told reporters on board Secretary of State Mike Pompeo´s plane.

He was speaking on his way to Israel from Ankara, where President Recep Tayyp Erdogan promised US Vice President Mike Pence that Turkey would suspend military operations for five days so fighters from the Kurdish YPG militia could pull out.